Monday: Perplexity's citation strategy
Tuesday: Google's defensive narrative
Today: What if publishers just cut AI off at the knees?
NYT did it. And positioned themselves as heroes.
NYT's "Block the Bots" Marketing Move:
New York Times blocked OpenAI's web crawler in August 2023. Then sent a cease and desist to Perplexity in October 2024.
The accusation: Perplexity is "unjustly enriched" by using journalism without a license. Then they sued OpenAI for $1 billion.
But here's the genius marketing play:
They didn't frame it as greed.
They framed it as protecting journalism.
"We're not letting robots steal the work of real reporters."
The moral high ground.
The 59-sec takeaway:
When distribution partners become competitors, cut them off.
But don't make it about money. Make it about values.
NYT realized:
AI scrapes their investigative reports
Answers questions using NYT research
Users never click through
Zero subscriptions
So they blocked AI. And made it a crusade.
Reports suggest Perplexity ignores robots.txt files (the standard way to block crawlers).
Publishers are revolting.
The Playbook:
Turn restriction into a principled stance
For example:
"We're no longer on [Platform X]. We value our community's privacy over their ad revenue."
"We pulled content from [Site Y]. Quality matters more than reach."
"If you want our insights, come to the source. No shortcuts."
Turn gatekeeping into exclusivity.
Why this matters for Monday's prediction:
If NYT's bet works, every major publisher follows.
WSJ. The Atlantic. Bloomberg. All block AI.
It becomes a movement:
"Real journalism requires real subscriptions. Don't trust AI summaries."
But here's the question:
Would readers care? Or just use AI anyway and accept "good enough" answers?
That's the gamble.
Perplexity valued at $14 billion as of June 2025. They're not going away.
WE LOVE CONVENIENCE.
Will they pay $20/month for NYT? Or use free AI that's "pretty accurate"?
That's Option C.
Clue #3 collected.
Tomorrow: The grift. How SEO agencies are rebranding to survive.
Talk soon,
Pavan
P.S. One more clue tomorrow. Then you decide.
P.P.S. Don't forward this to your marketer friends if you want to keep your edge. Pattern recognition is your competitive advantage.